Round 11: Indianapolis

Pedrosa Storms To Victory at The Brickyard

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) stormed to his second victory of the season with a record-breaking win on a warm, sunny day at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Dani PEDROSA
(Repsol Honda Team)

Dani PEDROSA
(Repsol Honda Team)

Team-mate Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC213V) rode bravely with a heavily damaged right ankle, the legacy of a qualifying crash, to finish just off the podium in fourth. Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso were second and third, respectively. Starting from a new pole position record, Pedrosa used the power of his Repsol Honda RC213V to take the lead from Yamaha rider Ben Spies on the third of 28 laps. Spies tried to stay with him, but was already losing ground when his engine expired in a puff of smoke down the straightaway.

That put his team-mate Lorenzo into second but at a margin of 2.293s. Lorenzo would never get much closer. Pedrosa was consistent throughout with something in reserve. He unleashed his full power on the 15th lap when he set a new race lap record, shattering the old mark by .8s.

Over the final 13 laps he continued to stretch his advantage, winning by 10.823s. It was the second largest MotoGP margin of victory to the 14.996s win he had recorded in the German Grand Prix.

It was Pedrosa’s first win from pole since the 2010 San Marino Grand Prix at Misano.

By winning for the second time at IMS, with a new race record time that was 13s faster than last year’s race, Pedrosa took five points off championship leader Lorenzo. With seven races remaining, he has closed to within 18 points, 225 to 207. Stoner lost ground and now sits third at 189.

The reigning world champion was not certain he would ride until the morning. Saturday’s qualifying crash had caused multiple traumas to his right leg, including several small chipped bone fractures, a 10mm fracture on the talar dome below the tibia and fibula, contusions to the anterior tibia, posterior tibia and medial malleolus, and soft tissue swelling around the ankle. He also tore his deltoid, anterior talofibial, calcaneal and fibular ligaments in addition to a high ankle sprain. He could not walk without the aid of crutches.

Rather than getting involved in the early cut and thrust, Stoner allowed the field to sort itself out before making his push. He patiently made his way up the order, though his progress was interrupted when Ben Spies had a smoking engine failure on the front straight on lap six. Stoner had to make his way through the smoke on the fastest part of the course and lost touch with the leaders.

Once clear of the smoke, he went after Dovizioso, passing him for third on tenth lap. Stoner kept the Italian at bay for 12 laps, but the healthier rider would not be denied while Stoner struggled with his physical limitations. Dovi took back the final podium spot from Stoner on lap 22 and, while the Australian hounded him for a handful of laps, Dovizioso was able to break free.

Now Stoner has five days to recover before practice starts for next weekend’s Czech Grand Prix at Brno.

Much of the race was processional over the second half. Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V), who had been part of the battle for third, lost touch with those in front and pulled away from the rider just behind, LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl. When that happened, near the midpoint of the race, the two riders solidified their positions.

Bautista was happy to return to the feeling with the motorcycle that he had had before the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. Fifth place was his second best finish of the season; he had been fourth at the British Grand Prix.

Bradl was expecting more after an encouraging performance in qualifying. That potential was not realised because he could not push out of the many slow corners on the track. Still, he gained ten points on the rider ahead of him in the championship while maintaining sixth in his rookie season.

Bautista’s teammate did not have much luck in his first visit to Indiana on a MotoGP machine. Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V) retired early in the race with a swingarm problem. It was his fourth straight non-finish.

Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol – Suter Marc Marquez gave a master class in the Moto2 race, setting a number of new lap records early on while pulling away to a commanding victory, his fifth of the season.

Marquez took the lead on the third of 26 laps, and with the exception of a lap mid-race, stretched his lead at will. By the end of the race he had pulled out a cushion of 5.855s.

The win helped him pull back some of the points he had lost finishing fifth in the previous round at Mugello. Marquez now has a lead of 39 points, 199 to 149, over Pol Espargaro (Pons HP 40 Tuenti – Kalex), the second place finisher.

Espargaro took over second on the eighth lap, by which time Marquez already had a gap of 3.321s. Other than the 11th lap, when Marquez was off pace and Espargaro took advantage, Espargaro could not make inroads. Instead he had to fend off Julian Simon (Blusens Avintia – Suter), who he pulled away from in the later stages. For Simon it was his first podium of the season.

Simon, in turn, had over 6s on Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team – Kalex), the former MotoGP rider who had company from Thomas Luthi (Interwetten-Paddock Suter) and Scott Redding, Kallio’s team-mate.

Andrea Iannone (Speed Master – Speed Up) arrived in Indianapolis tied for second in the championship with Espargaro, but an off day dropped him to ninth. He now trails Espargaro by 13 points and Marquez by 52.

The Moto3 race ended in tragedy for Maverick Vinales (Blusens Avintia FTR Honda), the young Spaniard who crashed in the final turn sequence while going for victory. Vinales had been in the thick of the fight for most of the race, while waiting until the end to make his grab for glory. But the he ran wide in the penultimate corner and onto a dirty section of the track, causing his tyres to wash out. Vinales could not re-start his motorcycle and scored no points.

The race was won by KTM rider Luis Salom, the Spaniard getting his first victory with Sandro Cortese (KTM) second and Jonas Folger (KTM) third.

Manuel Oliveira (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Suter Honda) narrowly missed out on the final podium spot by taking fourth; the gap was .127s. In his first visit to America, Romano Fenati (Team Italia FMI FTR Honda) was a very close fifth, with Oliveira’s teammate Alex Rins finishing seventh.

Cortese continues to lead the championship with 184 points to 155 for Vinales.

Casey STONER
(Repsol Honda Team)

Alvaro BAUTISTA
(San Carlo Honda Gresini)

MotoGP

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: Race winner

“I'm extremely happy with this win and I really want to congratulate the whole team for the great job they've done this weekend. The bike worked perfectly. It was difficult at the beginning of the race, because the pace was very strong from the start. I got past Ben Spies, but I kept calm because I knew I had the pace today to fight for the victory. When I took the lead, I put in some very strong laps to build up a gap and then I made a mistake in turn 2 going into neutral and Jorge (Lorenzo) reduced the gap by one second. But I was able to get back on my pace and ride comfortably to the end, where I think Jorge struggled a little with the soft rear tyre. We managed to take our second win of the season and every point is important. I want to also congratulate Casey (Stoner) for his result; he did a superb race in his condition and I am sure he will be strong again in Brno.”

Casey Stoner: Repsol Honda: 4th

“I'm definitely disappointed with how the weekend went. We had a strong start on Friday morning and then had a few issues Friday afternoon in FP2. We showed that we certainly had the pace for pole position and fight for the win, but unfortunately I had a huge crash in qualifying. The injuries I sustained from the crash made things very difficult for us and we lost precious track time to work on the set-up. This morning in warm-up I was just getting comfortable on the bike and trying to get a feel for everything rather than working on set up. The race was equally as difficult. We had a rough start and got pushed back some positions and had to fight our way back through. As soon as we did, unluckily Ben (Spies) had a bike failure and I found myself in the middle of the smoke, unsure where I was going and what I might hit and we lost positions again. At the end of the race it was almost impossible to maintain the pace. The painkillers I took to dull the pain gradually wore off at around the halfway point and, as I was compensating for my injury with the other side of my body, I simply had no energy left. It was frustrating to give up the podium position to Andrea (Dovizioso), but we did everything we could and at least I was able to ride and take some points.”

Alvaro Bautista, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 5th

“This result is fruit of all the hard work the guys in the team have done this weekend to get the feeling back that we had before Mugello. I knew I could have a good race today and after making some positions up at the start I was able to run with the front guys for most of the race. At the end (Andrea) Dovizioso and (Casey) Stoner were two or three tenths quicker than me, so I couldn't follow them but I think this is a positive result for us, especially after a couple of difficult races for us. I hope this means we are on the right lines for the upcoming races but I want to thank everybody in the team for helping me to get my confidence and feel for the bike back, as well as all the sponsors and everybody who has kept faith in us.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 6th

“Honestly, it was not one of our best races so far and I am a bit disappointed because we looked stronger than this. Sixth position is not a disaster, but I was expecting a bit more considering the pace of our qualification yesterday. Unfortunately I was not able to push in the first gear corners and I was losing quite a lot in the acceleration areas. I tried to pull it back in section two and section three, which was possible in the begging, but not over the all race distance. At the end I had to accept that today we were not so strong but we are doing well and we still hold the sixth position in the world standing.”

Michele Pirro, San Carlo Honda Gresini: DNF

“I am really upset right now because this is our fourth retirement in a row. It is another technical setback and I am extremely disappointed by it.”

Moto2

Marc Marquez, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol – Suter: Race winner

“Although it might not have seemed like it, that was a very difficult race. It is very hard to keep the same focus and pace throughout an entire weekend. I surprised myself, because my strategy was to conserve the tyres, but I decided to try to escape once I’d noticed that everyone had the same tactic. At the midway point I had built up a lead that allowed me to manage the race through to the end.”

Pol Espargaro, Pons 40 HP Tuenti – Kalex: 2nd

“A second place with a slightly bitter taste, because I had been very fast in practice, also in my rhythm, and I have not been able to repeat it in the race. The tyre compound chosen has not gone as expected and finishing second, considering the chattering in both the front and back, is almost a miracle. I have not been comfortable at any time and when I placed second I realised that I could not catch (Marc) Marquez. Yesterday I lapped several times in 1m, 42s and the rest in 1m, 43s, and today there was no human way to go below 1m, 44. This is my fifth consecutive podium in Indianapolis, the sixth of ten races in 2012, and now I’m looking ahead and think that we can return to fight for the win in seven days in Brno.”

Julian Simon, Blusens Avintia – Suter: 3rd

“I’m really happy to be on the podium. I start the second part of the season very good and this is my objective for the second part, to stay in this line, continue with this work. I changed something in the team and also in the bike and also congratulations today to the team, because it’s very important for me to recover the good sensation in the bike, because the first part of the season was very difficult. Also, last year was complicated after I broke my leg. So for me this podium is like a victory, so I’m really happy. Also congratulations to (Marc) Marquez and Po (Espargaro)l, because they were stronger here. And for Brno I hope to continue with this line and this work and I hope to stay also here.”

Moto3

Manuel Oliveira, Estrella Galicia 0,0 – Suter Honda: 4th

“It was a hard race. We knew we had the pace to be with the leaders and that's how it was. Maybe the grid position didn't help too much but we made up the places quickly. I knew that in the second half of the race the tyres would suffer and even though I made up more positions I couldn't get to the front. We've started the second half of the season well though and I'm pleased with myself and for my team.”

Romano Fenati, Team Italia FMI – FTR Honda: 5th

“Racing in Indianapolis was an emotional experience. At the start I got stuck in the middle of the pack, losing contact with the top three. The tyre choice helped me to climb back and post the fastest lap, but towards the end I had no grip left and didn't want to take too many risks. We consolidated the fourth place in the championship, where we still lead among the rookies.”

Alex Rins, Estrella Galicia 0,0 - Suter Honda: 7th

“It was a pretty action-packed race. In the first half I was part of the lead group and I saw that I definitely needed to start pushing. When I did, Khairruddin caught back up with me at the end of the start-finish straight, so I had to push the tyres a lot. That affected the second half of my race with all the wear to them. I wasn't able to go any faster and obviously this affected me. Now we have to focus on the good points about the weekend and look ahead to the Czech Republic."